Saturday, March 4, 2006
8 pm
UMBC Fine Arts Recital Hall

Media contact:
Tom Moore
Director of Arts & Culture
tmoore@umbc.edu
410-455-3370

Note: You may download this release as a pdf file (329k).

The Department of Music’s Contemporary Concert Series presents Abbie Conant and William Osborne on Saturday, March 4th at 8 pm in the Fine Arts Recital Hall.

Conant and Osborne’s performance features their composition Cybeline, a music theater work for performance-artist, glove controller, trombone, video, and quadraphonic surround sound. Schubert Lieder, the Egyptian Goddess Maat, Native American poetry, dismemberment, trombone playing, a cyborg talkshow host, a talking hand, sacred cartoons, a vengeful opera singer, a martyred math geek, Hildegard von Bingen, fighter jets, commercials for synthetic flesh, cyborgian attack dogs, and personality-enhancement chips, Psalms, a country western song, Mother Nature, and a tribute to Joni Mitchell...all integrated into a 45 minute surround sound mini opera with computer-generated accompaniment, video and live electronics. And yes, this is classical music about a cyborg trying to prove she is human by being a talk show host.

The concert will also include Music for the End of Time by William Osborne for trombone and quadraphonic tape, an apocalyptic work in six movements based on the Book of Revelation. The electronic music of the surround sound creates a sonic environment in which the trombone is the central figure. It explores all aspects of the trombone, ranging from expressions of "divine wrath," to wild rhythmic unisons with the Four Horsemen, to the gentlest, meditative lyricism.

Admission
Admission is free.

Telephone
UMBC Artsline (24 hour recorded message): 410-455-ARTS
Media inquiries only: 410-455-3370

Web
UMBC Arts website: http://www.umbc.edu/arts
UMBC News Releases: http://www.umbc.edu/news

Images for Media
High resolution images for media is available online: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/ or by email or postal mail.

Directions

• From I-95 take exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to UMBC.
• From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC at the roundabout intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Hilltop Road.
• Parking is available after 3:30 p.m. on weekdays and all day during weekends in gated Lots 16/9A for a $.50 fee, quarters only. To get to these parking lots, circle around Hilltop Circle (either direction) until you reach Hilltop Road. Take Hilltop Road toward the center of campus. (The Fine Arts Building will now be directly in front of you.) Proceed through the stop sign. The road will curve to the right. You will need to deposit 50¢ (two quarters) to open the gate. If Lot 16 is full, you can also pay to park in Lot 9A, which sits on the hill immediately above Lot 16—just go back to the stop sign and turn left toward Lot 9A, and then to the gate. If both these Lots are full (which would be unusual in the evening), then park in the Commons Garage, Walker Avenue Garage or Lot 10.
• Online campus map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/

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